


Getting Home Again

by adorable_eggplant



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Backstory, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-24
Updated: 2011-08-24
Packaged: 2017-10-23 00:58:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/244494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adorable_eggplant/pseuds/adorable_eggplant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A look at Leonard McCoy's life before the <i>Enterprise</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Getting Home Again

**Author's Note:**

> I know that the fandom has almost universally accepted ‘Jocelyn Darnell’ as the name of McCoy’s ex-wife, but I don’t see anything in the novel _Shadows on the Sun_ as canon so I couldn’t see a good reason to keep only her name. ‘Joanna’, on the other hand, was to have appeared under that name in an episode of the TV series had it not been canceled and so I’ve kept that one.

Friday, February 21, 2245

“You know the library closed five minutes ago, right?”

“Hm?  Is it six already?  I’ll just get packed up… Sorry, I guess I must’ve lost track of time.”

“I’m not surprised.  Just how long have you been sitting there?  You looked pretty firmly entrenched when I got here to work eight hours ago and I don’t think I’ve seen you move once except to turn a page.  And what are you reading that’s so interesting, anyway?”  She leaned over to read the spine of the book as he returned it to the shelf, close enough that he could smell a faint hint of lavender.  “ _World at War, World at Peace:  A Historical Perspective on Fundamental Change in the Human Psyche_?  Doesn’t sound like most people’s idea of light reading.”

“It’s for a term paper – Professor Duckett’s History of Psychology class.  Andrews-comma-Jason has it checked out to this research station for the semester so I’ve been coming in and reading it when he’s not here.”

“Why don’t you just request an electronic copy?  I can show you how at the desk if you want.”

“Oh, thanks, but I guess I just like these old print volumes.  Something about the weight of it, the way the paper feels… it probably sounds a little silly, but it just seems more real somehow.  Besides, Mr. Andrews apparently has his mind on something other than his dissertation.  I haven’t seen him once.”

“Ok, but an electronic copy doesn’t chase you out and lock up for the night at 6 p.m.”

“I know.  It’s just not the same.”  He closed the fastener on his bag and stood up.  “And look, I’m sorry for keeping you here late, Miss… er?”

“Emily.  Emily Parker.”  She held out a hand and he shook it.  She sighed.  “You know, I really shouldn’t do this, but I know you’ll be right back in here first thing tomorrow morning anyway.  Walk out with me and I’ll use my override to let you take the book home for the night.”  She pulled the book off of the shelf and he followed her (and her long auburn hair) toward the doors.  “You’ll trigger the alarm when you bring it back in, but they ignore it unless someone’s taking something out.”

“Oh, that would be great.  Are you sure you don’t mind?  I don’t want to get you in any trouble.”

“It’s a library book and you’re bringing it back in the morning.  Somehow I doubt this is going to make headlines.”  She pressed a few buttons on the computer control console at the front desk.  “Ok, I shut off the sensors for a minute.  Go ahead and take this through the detectors.” 

He stepped through and stowed the book in his bag.  “I really appreciate this.  I don’t know how to thank you.”

She unlocked the door and waved him out first.  “Well, since I know you’ll be up all night reading anyway, why don’t you buy me a cup of coffee at Bottletree?”  She grinned.  “If you and that book disappear without a trace, I want to be able to give the security guard a better description than ‘tall blue-eyed boy taking a psychology class’.”

His heart skipped a beat.  He’d been at the University of Mississippi for nearly two years, but starting school at sixteen had meant spending a thoroughly disappointing number of Friday evenings alone with a textbook and a bottle of root beer.  Turning eighteen a month ago had apparently triggered some sort of fundamental realignment of the cosmos:  first there was the weekend of the gymnastics tournament, during which a gorgeous joined Trill by the name of Emony Dax had taken it upon themselves to give him a rather extensive and thoroughly enjoyable series of hands-on lessons in some of the more intimate aspects of humanoid anatomy, and now this.  “I’d be happy to get you that coffee and tell you anything you think that security guard might like to know.”

“Great.  I bet he wouldn’t mind knowing if you have a name.”

“Oh, right!  It’s McCoy.  Leonard McCoy.”

*          *          *

Saturday, March 6, 2247

“Aren’t there some in your bag?”

“Leonard, I told you Wednesday that was the last one and you said you’d go get more before we left.”

“Shit.  You’re right.  I’ve been so caught up in this Xenobiology project… I completely forgot.”

“You know, I think I should probably be insulted that my boyfriend forgot to bring condoms on a Spring Break camping trip because he was busy studying.”

“I’m really sorry, Em.  I’ll get some at that gas station back on the main road, ok?”

“What, now?  All six people who live in this county have probably been asleep for at least three hours, and you just had half a bottle of wine.”

“No, I know.  First thing in the morning.  Unless you want me to make you breakfast first.  I brought—”

“Ok, you do that, but right now I also just had half a bottle of red wine and I could really do with a bit more than just a hug and kiss goodnight.”

“Well, me too, but we don’t have any—”

“So just pull out.  You haven’t got any weird alien cooties from your Xenobio subjects, right?”

“No, but what about—”

“My next period’s not for another week.  Now if you don’t have any other objections, I think we’d just about gotten to the part where I pin you down and have my way with you.”

*          *          *

Tuesday, March 23, 2247

He stopped in his tracks, nearly dropping all of his books.  “You’re _what_?  _How?!_ ”

“Sweetie, I know you’re not a doctor yet, but do I really have to explain it to you?”

“No, no, that first night of the camping trip.  Sorry, I’m just… well, it’s a bit of a surprise.”

“Believe me, I’m well aware of that.”

“Well, I… you know what, I forgot something really important in my locker.  Can I meet you in—”

“Leonard, I just told you that I’m pregnant!  With _your_ baby.  Nothing in your locker can _possibly_ be that important.”

“I’ll run.  It’ll just take a second.  I bet I can even make it to our bench before you do.”

“Are you seriously still—”

“Please?  I promise it’s that important.”

“Fine.”  Emily threw her hands in the air.  “Whatever.  But I can’t even begin to tell you how much trouble you’re in if you’re just going after a textbook.”

“Thanks, I’ll be there in two minutes!” he called over his shoulder as he raced down the hallway.

She was already sitting on the bench, arms crossed over her chest.  “Two minutes and forty-eight seconds.  Now are you going to just sit there crouching on the ground digging in your bookbag or can we figure out what the hell we’re going to do about this?”

“Well… I’d been planning on doing this at graduation next month but I don’t think it ought to wait.”  He shifted to one knee.  “Emily Parker, will you marry me?”

“You had an _engagement ring_ in your _locker_?  Leonard McCoy, are you completely insane?”

“You would have found it in my room, and I need another degree or two before I can give you an official diagnosis.  Now I don’t suppose you’d care to answer my question?”

“Oh, Jesus Christ.  Well, _I_ must be completely nuts, at least.  Of course I’ll marry you.  Now we just have to plan a wedding before I get far enough along for my father to come after you with a plasma gun.”

*          *          *

Friday, March 26, 2247

“Aren’t you a little young?”

“I love her, Dad.”

“I know, I know.  I still can’t believe you managed to find time for a girlfriend while getting a double major in pre-med and psychology.  Congratulations, Leonard.  Your mother will be thrilled.  She told me how much she’d love to have Emily as a daughter-in-law the first time we met her, you know.”

“I know it’s soon, but we’re thinking about right around graduation.  You and Em’s parents will already be here, and all of our friends from school—”

“A one-month engagement?  You didn’t get her pregnant, did you?”

He swallowed hard, the blood draining from his face.  “How did you know?”

“I didn’t, but you just told me.  Four years of psychology classes and nobody taught you that one?  The quality of education at Ole Miss must’ve really slipped since your mother and I were there.”

“You won’t tell Mom yet, will you?  Emily’s only a couple of weeks along.  That, and we’re hoping we can wait long enough to tell people that maybe they won’t work out the math.”

“And I’m positive they must have covered _that_ in one of your pre-med courses.”

“Dad…”

“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.  I should warn you, though, your mother has a very sharp eye.”

“Just as long as nobody says anything to Mr. Parker.  I’m not sure if Emily was kidding about him having a plasma gun.”

“All right.  Your mother should be home in about an hour if you want to call back then and give her the big news yourself.”

“Thanks, Dad.  I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Bye, Leonard.  I’m really happy for you and Emily.”

*          *          *

Wednesday, December 15, 2247

He beamed and squeezed Emily’s hand when the baby started crying.

“Congratulations – it’s a girl!” the doctor said, holding her up for them to see.  Leonard was dimly aware of a nurse or two taking care of the umbilical cord and other proceedings, but all he could see was his daughter.  “You said you finished your pre-med training, right, son?  I’ll let you clean her off if you want.”

“I’d love to!”  He took the tiny girl in his arms.  “Joanna Elizabeth,” he said to Emily.  He’d only been a father for about thirty seconds, but his face already hurt from smiling.  “She looks just like her momma.”  He finished with the washcloth, gently smoothed his daughter’s short brown hair, and handed her to her mother.

“She’s got your eyes.”

He bounced on the balls of his feet.  He was sure his face was about to split in two.  “I’m not sure which one of you is more beautiful.”

*          *          *

Thursday, January 25, 2249

“Medical school?  You’re three months away from your master’s in space psychology.  I thought we were agreed you were going to stay here at Emory and keep going with the doctorate program here in the fall.”

“I know.  But I’ve really been giving it a lot of thought and I just miss studying medicine.”

“And what about Joanna?  She’s barely a year old.  How are we supposed to manage a toddler if you’re in medical school?  And for that matter, what were you planning to do about next semester?  I’m willing to look into the exo-paleontology programs at other schools for my PhD, but I really want to finish my master’s here with Dr. Conyers.  Not many professors would have taken the time to do that much extra work with a student taking a semester off to take care of a baby.  None of those medical schools you just rattled off is exactly next door.”

“I’ll take the shuttle back here every night.  Even Johns Hopkins would only take an hour each way, and I could do my studying during the commute.  And Mom’s retiring in a month.  She keeps talking about wanting to spend more time with you and Joey.”

“You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?”

“We can make this work.  I know it won’t be easy, but we got through this past year ok, didn’t we?”

“Your mother warned me you could be awfully stubborn once you’d gotten an idea in that head of yours.”

“Of course she did.  Who do you think I got it from?”

*          *          *

Wednesday, October 10, 2249

He leaned against the wall across from the door to the Plasma Burn Unit, trying to match the names on the PADD to the faces of the patients through the window.  The only thing he needed to know about them was the descriptions of their injuries—the doctor would be leading the class around the ward and discussing treatment of burns of varying severity—but he thought ‘Patient Number Twelve, second degree burn plus minor fractures’ seemed a little impersonal.  _Anthony Dunaway, Carolyn Brock, George Kirk, Samuel Stevitts, Mary Sullivan…_

“Do you mind?  I’m trying to work here and you’re really not helping.”  A nurse was coming down the hall, followed closely by a teenaged boy holding a flower taken from one of the cafeteria tables and clearly doing his best to pour on the charm.  He straightened up, put on his best scowl, and grabbed hold of the boy’s arm as he walked by.  “Son,” he growled, “unless you’d like to find out first-hand where the term ‘sawbones’ came from, I’d suggest you leave the nurses here alone.”

“Who?  Me?”  The boy looked at him innocently.  “All I did was ask her the way to Plasma Burns so I could, um, bring my dad this flower.”  He held it up.

“Well, you’ve found it, so I’d suggest you hurry up and make your delivery.”  He somehow managed not to double over laughing until the door had swished closed behind the boy.

*          *          *

Monday, May 5, 2251

“Two _months_?  Leonard, you can’t be serious.” 

“I know it’s a long trip and a long time away from you and Joey, but this mission to Dramia II is exactly the kind of thing I want to be doing.  I really want to make a difference, to save lives.  Share and exchange medical knowledge with the rest of the galaxy.  Without our help, that planet’ll be wiped out entirely.”

“I’m not arguing that it’s an important mission.  I just don’t see why you personally have to do it.”

“Em, if you really don’t want me to go, I won’t.  But there’s just no way I’m going to get another offer like this while I’m still a student.  I can’t believe they’re even giving me a chance like this once.”

She sighed.  “Will you be in subspace range, at least?  Because if you aren’t, you’d better go explain to Joanna why she’s not getting a bedtime story from Daddy until the end of July.”

*          *          *

Thursday, February 12, 2252

“Leonard?  Your dad’s on the comm.”

“Can I call him back in a bit?  I’m not quite done reading for Neural Pathology tomorrow.”

Emily appeared in the doorway to the study.  “I think you’d better talk to him now.  He didn’t say what it was about but he looks pretty upset.”

He followed her back to the living room.  His father’s face was drawn and seemed much older than he remembered it looking a week before.  “Dad.  What’s wrong?”

“It’s your mother, Leonard.  There… there was an accident.  Her shuttle back from visiting your aunt on Alpha Centauri.  Something… I think a plasma leak of some sort.  Leonard, she’s gone.”  His father looked away.

“There’s a transporter pad for the ER at Hopkins.  I’m sure they’ll let me use it to beam down to Emory.  I’ll be right there, Dad.  I love you.”  His father nodded slightly before terminating the link. 

“Oh, Leonard!”  Emily hugged him tightly.  “I’m so sorry.  Do you want me to tell Joanna when she gets home from Katie’s?”

“I suppose that’d be the easiest thing to do,” he said, wiping his eyes.  “I’d like to be here to tell her but I don’t think I should keep Dad waiting.  Can you two make it down after school tomorrow?  I’m sure it’ll take at least that long to get all the arrangements made.”

“Of course.  Here, let me drive you to the hospital.  Why don’t you just grab a clean shirt and a toothbrush and I’ll pack everything else and bring it tomorrow.  And I’ll let Dr. Richardson know you’ll be gone tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Em.  I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

*          *          *

Tuesday, July 27, 2252

“Leonard, we can’t keep pretending this isn’t a problem.”

“Emily…”

“I’ve already barely seen you for the last six months.  I know losing your mother was hard.  I do.  But it’s not just that.  There’s always something keeping us apart.  All the hours studying and the training missions and the weekend seminars….  And it’s not going to get any better once we’re out of school, Leonard.  I’m going to have to go to a remote planet somewhere and stay there for probably years at a time.  And you’re not doing any good as a doctor if you don’t have any patients.”

“There has to be another way.  I’ll stick with research.  Set up a lab wherever you are and do my work there.  Find a space station nearby that can take care of trials.”

“No.  That’s not fair.  It’s not fair to you, and it’s not fair to all the people out there whose lives you’re going to save.  You’re going to be a brilliant doctor.  As difficult as it’s been sometimes, I wouldn’t change the last seven years.  But what about the next hundred?  We’re just not meant to take the same path.”

“I know.  I know you’re right.  I just can’t imagine what my life would have been like without you.”  He looked down at his hands.  “What it will be like.”  They sat in silence for a long minute.  “Do you think you could still do the year of off-world study?  They did accept your application, and I know you only turned it down because of me and Joey.”

“Oh, probably.  But what about Joey?  I’ll be a lot farther away than Atlanta.”

“We’ll make it work.  She can keep going to school here.  I’ll cut back my course load so I’ll have more time with her.  She can make a weekend trip out to see you once or twice a month.  If it’s not fair for me to go to some remote planet for you, it’s not fair for you to stay on this one for me, you know.”

She squeezed his hand.  “I’ll talk to Dr. Barker about it in the morning.”

*          *          *

Tuesday, September 5, 2254

“Excuse me, but do you have any idea where I could find Environmental Studies?  I forgot my map and I guess I didn’t remember the directions correctly.”

He swallowed the bite of peach in his mouth and pointed to across the Quad with the rest of the fruit.  “Sure, you’re almost there.  Just go past the Administration Building there and it’s right across Dowman in the Math/Science Center.  You’ll see the departmental signs once you’re inside.”

“Oh, thank you!  The registrar’s office changed my schedule at the last minute and I had to pick up some new textbooks and then I got lost and it’s the first day and I really don’t want to be late for this class because—”

He chuckled.  “You’re not from around here, are you?”

“What?  No, I’m originally from the colony on Beta-Dorian but I’ve been on Earth for school for several years now.  I only got to Atlanta yesterday.  I’m getting my doctorate in exo-archaeology.” 

“Well, maybe on Beta-Dorian tardiness is a capitol offense, but here in the Deep South everything runs a little slower.  You’ll be just fine, Miss…?”

“Oh.  Nancy.  Nancy Meyer.”

“Nancy.  And anyway, it’s only ten till.  You’ve got plenty of time,” he said with a smile.

She gave him a small smile back.  “Ok, thanks.  Well, I’d better go anyway before I forget the directions again.”

“Of course.  Enjoy your class.”

“Thanks!  I’ll try.”

*          *          *

Saturday, November 4, 2254

“That’s it, darlin’.  Just straighten your wrist out a little more and then let go.”  The Frisbee wobbled as it moved through the air but headed almost directly for his outstretched hand.  “Perfect!” 

“No it wasn’t, Daddy.  It was too slow and it was all bumpy.”

“Any faster and your poor old Dad won’t be able to see it coming in time to catch it.  Ready?”  Joanna nodded and he tossed it back.  As he did so, he saw a familiar-looking woman walking along the path at the edge of the Quad.  “Nancy?” he called.

She turned and squinted for a moment and then broke into a smile.  “Oh, hi!”  She jogged toward him.

“Who’s that?”

“That’s Miss Nancy.  She goes to school here.”  He turned to Nancy.  “And this is my daughter, Joanna.”

He thought he caught her glancing at his left hand as she went to shake Joanna’s hand.  “It’s very nice to meet you, Joanna.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too, Miss Nancy.  Do you wanna throw a Frisbee with me and Daddy?”

“That sounds wonderful.  Where should I stand?”

Joanna, still clutching the Frisbee, put her hands on her hips and carefully surveyed the terrain.  She pointed.  “Over there.  Near the big tree.”

“Ok!”  Nancy moved to her appointed position and set down her bag.  “Ready!”

Another half an hour later, he conceded the match to Joanna.  “How about lunch at Everybody’s Pizza to celebrate your victory?”

“Can Miss Nancy come too?”

He turned to Nancy, bouncing on the balls of his feet.  “I don’t see why not.”

“I’d be delighted.  Thank you, Joanna.”  They picked up their bags and walked toward the front Gateway.  “You know, I ran off to class that day without ever asking the nice young man beneath the plum tree what his name was.  And thanks, by the way.”

“You really aren’t from around here.  This is the _Peach_ State, my dear.  And you’re welcome.  The name’s McCoy.  Leonard McCoy.”

“Are you and Joanna’s mother students here?”

“I just started my residency at the hospital, but I got a master’s here before I went off to Baltimore for my MD.  My ex just moved almost a hundred light-years away for an exo-paleontology expedition, so Joey’s living here with me and her grandfather.”

“Hurry up, Daddy.  I’m hungry!”

“We’re coming, darlin’.  I told you I was too old to keep up with you!”

*          *          *

Sunday, January 28, 2255

“Leonard, I know you just turned twenty-eight and you probably don’t want your old man’s advice on women anymore, but can I give you some anyway?”

“I thought you said you liked Nancy.”

“I do.  But if I’m not mistaken she mentioned exo-archaeology before the two of you went off to celebrate your birthday the other day.”

“Yes, that’s what she’s studying.”

“That sounds to me like the sort of degree that leads to a career on a distant, uninhabited planet, Leonard.”

“I know, Dad.  It is.  We talked about it and we both know it’ll be over when she graduates.  She even told me that if I see another, more permanent prospect before then, I should go for it.  But we have fun together and she and Joey really like each other.  I don’t see why we shouldn’t enjoy it while we can.”

“Suit yourself, son.”  He shook his head.  “You know, I know some men have a ‘type’, but couldn’t you have just gone with ‘blonde’ or something instead of ‘pursuing a career that requires living on a remote, uninhabited planet’?”

*          *          *

Saturday, November 13, 2258

He stared numbly at the kitchen wall, trying to make sense of everything.  Joanna was at her friend Jamie’s house for the night, so he had a few more hours to figure out how on Earth to tell her that her grandfather wasn’t coming home.  The house had seemed empty when his mother had died, but it was nothing like this.  He hadn’t killed anyone then. 

He shook his head, trying to clear it.  _He_ asked _me to do it.  There wasn’t a cure.  He was in horrible pain, and it would only have gotten worse.  Nothing else could have been done._   He silently repeated the words over and over to himself, sobbing into his hands and wishing there was someone there to hold him.

*          *          *

Monday January 24, 2259

“Hi, Daddy!”  Joanna bounded into the kitchen, tossing her bookbag on the table on her way to hug him.

“Someone’s in a good mood.  Something exciting happen at school?”

“Miss Carver, the counselor from the high school, came to talk to us about careers.”  He wondered how his baby girl had gotten so old so quickly.  “And about schools.  Have you ever been to Cerberus?”

“No, I haven’t.”  He felt something tighten in his chest.  He hadn’t been to Cerberus, but he knew there was a school there.  An absolutely fantastic boarding school with more and better-equipped labs and libraries than most universities and even a preparatory program for flight training and students of all species from dozens of worlds.  He’d wanted to go there himself but his mother hadn’t wanted to send him so far away.  He forced himself to smile, trying to share in Joanna’s excitement.  “But I bet you brought home a stack of papers all about the school there and an application form, didn’t you?”

“Miss Carver said my grades are good enough and she’d write me a recommendation letter herself.  Can I go, Daddy?  Please?”

“Of course you can, sweetheart.”

*          *          *

Friday, March 18, 2259

“Coffee, black.”  He took a swig and slumped in one of the break room chairs, rubbing his eyes.  Joanna’s acceptance letter had come the night before, and they’d gone out for pizza and ice cream to celebrate.  Nothing made him happier than seeing his daughter happy, and he’d never seen her so excited.  Once she’d gone to bed he’d tried to read a case study, but after an hour of reading the same paragraph over and over he’d given up and silently gone to sit in Joanna’s room, watching her sleep.

He had two months of the neurosurgery residency left and no idea what to do when it ended.  He’d lost both his parents, the woman he’d once fallen in love with was long gone, and now his little girl, the person at the center of his universe, was leaving, too.  He’d always planned to practice medicine off-world for at least some of his life, but he’d always assumed he’d come home again.  He wasn’t sure where home would be once Joanna went to school, but he knew it wouldn’t be Earth anymore.

His eyes drifted to a Starfleet poster on the wall.  It had been there as long as he could remember, but he’d never given it a second glance.  The idea of being assigned somewhere had never been particularly appealing to him before, but at the moment he was utterly at a loss to come up with somewhere that he might want to be.  He knew that Starfleet’s mission was one of peace and exploration, but he still wasn’t sure if he was cut out for military life.  When he realized a few minutes later that he was sort of enjoying trying to figure out how long he’d last before getting booted out for insubordination, he pulled out a PADD and scribbled down the contact information at the bottom of the poster. 

*          *          *

Monday, July 11, 2259

He quickly hopped down from the transporter pad.  Maybe it was all of his years studying the body as a real, solid, cohesive object, but he found something about being casually disassembled into his constituent subatomic particles and then just as casually reassembled elsewhere profoundly unsettling.  He hadn’t been given much choice this time since it was the standard procedure for getting from the earthbound portion of Starfleet Academy to the orbital training facility where he was about to be subjected to zero- and low-gravity environments and taught the basics of phaser use and emergency piloting of a shuttlecraft. 

He wasn’t overly enthusiastic about any of the day’s activities, but on the whole he’d been pleasantly surprised by his initial experience with Starfleet.  Admiral Diaghilev was warm and funny and had secured him what he had to admit sounded like a perfect assignment:  chief medical officer on Starbase 32, in the Maxia sector – only three hours by shuttlecraft from the Cerberus system. 

The admiral had also exempted him from virtually all of Basic Training so that McCoy could spend his last month planetside with Joanna and not stuck at the Academy.  McCoy’s medical records apparently showed that he was in good enough shape not to get stuck running laps and doing sit-ups for a month, he already knew how to use all of the medical equipment he would have on the starbase, he would have to learn how to operate a phaser for safety reasons but wasn’t required as a doctor to do any actual combat training, and the admiral had handed him a large tome with “Starfleet Rules and Regulations” on the cover and told him that if he promised to read it carefully, he’d be spared the pleasure of sitting in a lecture hall taking notes with a bunch of teenaged Academy cadets and newly-enlisted men and women for a week.  He would start as a full lieutenant because of his educational background.  The admiral had assigned a commander named Matheson the task of tutoring McCoy for a one-day crash course in the few training activities from which he wasn’t exempted, and then he could pick up his uniforms, a medkit, and a communicator, sign his name on the proverbial dotted line, and go back home until he was scheduled to report to the starbase.

*          *          *

Sunday, August 21, 2259

“Personal log, McCoy.  Um.”  He licked his lips looked around his quarters.  “I still can’t see why I’m required to make log entries when no one else is ever going to hear them and _I_ certainly don’t ever plan to sit here listening to a recording of myself talking _to_ myself.  I happen to know a thing or two about space psychology and clearly whoever made the rules about keeping a log was an idiot because there’s absolutely no scientific proof that talking to myself on a regular basis will keep me from going nuts.  Probably just the opposite, if you want my personal opinion.  And as for chronicling the events of my day, if anything important happened either it’d be in my medical log or else I’ll remember it.”  He paused for a moment to glare at the computer before throwing his hands in the air and getting up to pace the room.  “Fine, I guess I should just get on with it.  Let’s see.  I spent the last week on Cerberus with Joanna, this morning I took her to school and got her settled in so she could start classes tomorrow, and then I got on a transport and here I am.  I met the other officers and Commander Clayton gave me a tour of the base.  I have a nurse named Charlotte, and Clark Terrell, the first officer here, invited me to join him for lunch tomorrow on the Promenade.  And right now I’m putting my socks in a drawer, just in case someone someday decides that’s a relevant piece of information.  Computer, end log.”

*          *          *

Tuesday, March 12, 2261

“That’s great news, Clark.  It really is.”

“Thanks.  Took them long enough.”  He held out one arm in front of himself and studied his wrist.  “I don’t know, though, dashes _and_ a stripe… I’m really going to have to rethink my whole look.”

McCoy moved to Clark’s side and put an arm around his waist.  They stood in front of a window on the Observation Deck, watching the stars and the sky do absolutely nothing.  McCoy liked the view, even if it was completely stationary.  Few people bothered coming to the OD unless a ship was arriving, but he personally preferred just the vast, quiet stillness of space.  “Not to burst your bubble,” he said in a low voice, “but I don’t think it’s going to look all that different from your current getup when it’s lying on the floor in my quarters.”

Clark put an arm around McCoy.  “Hmm, an interesting theory.  I assume you’ll need to do some research to test it out.  Probably several repetitions to make sure you get accurate results.”

“Oh, definitely.  It’s very important to follow the proper scientific procedures on that sort of thing.”

“Well, I won’t be getting the new shirt until after the ceremony tomorrow, but we could always do a test run tonight just to work out any potential flaws in the experimental design.”

“I hear that’s exactly the kind of forward thinking they’re looking for in a handsome young starship bridge officer.”  He squeezed his arm more tightly around the other man.  “I’ll miss you, Clark.”

“Hey, don’t go getting all mushy on me yet, McCoy.  The _Ardent_ won’t be here for another month.”

“Yeah, you’re right.  And I don’t think that experiment’s gonna run itself.”

*          *          *

 _Lieutenant Leonard McCoy, having successfully proved through rigorous testing that the shirts in fact looked exactly the same once discarded on the floor of his quarters, remained on Starbase 32 following Clark Terrell’s departure.  The USS_ Ardent _was destroyed and its crew presumed dead shortly thereafter, although Terrell was eventually found alive and rescued five years later._

 _In the fall of 2262, the USS_ Falcon _spent several weeks docked at the base for extensive repairs.  During this time its chief engineer, Lieutenant Montgomery Scott, befriended the station’s CMO and proceeded to spend a fair portion of his free time helping the good doctor cultivate a healthy appreciation for Saurian brandy._

 _Joanna McCoy thoroughly enjoyed her years on Cerberus as well as her frequent weekend visits to see her father on the station, even if he never did learn how to kick a soccer ball as well as Mr. Clark.  Upon graduating in 2265, she returned to Earth and enrolled in Starfleet Medical Academy._

 _Lieutenant Commander McCoy accepted an assignment to an humanitarian mission on the planet Capella Four in November of 2265, although the Capellans’ lack of interest in medical aid was such that the project was terminated not long after it began.  A few weeks before the termination of the Capella Four project, Dr. Mark Piper announced his intention to resign his commission from Starfleet and retire from his position as chief medical officer aboard the USS_ Enterprise _.  Dr. Piper felt that Dr. McCoy’s background in space psychology and his surgical expertise would make him an ideal candidate for the position, and he strongly encouraged Captain James Kirk to request McCoy as his new CMO._

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. The one item from McCoy’s history in canon that I have not accounted for is his development of the neural grafting technique referenced in the _Voyager_ episode “Lifesigns”, which the EMH tells us was developed in 2253. My headcanon for McCoy was essentially a TOS version of [this one](http://northatlantic.livejournal.com/635266.html) until I actually saw the _Voyager_ episode in question. Now that I’ve seen it, I’m certain the writers intended it to be a reference to the TOS episode “Spock’s Brain”. At the very least, I felt there was no possible way that McCoy would have had any difficulty reconnecting Spock (much less any doubts that it was even a possibility) if he really had developed the technique used in _Voyager_ nearly fifteen years earlier. I’d prefer not to dismiss inconvenient bits of canon as writer mistakes (even when they clearly are just that) unless absolutely necessary, so my fairly boring but in-universe explanation of the date discrepancy is that the flunky at the Jupiter station who was assigned the task of programming the EMH with non-essential background information such as dates and names of physicians simply read the wrong line from the ‘date’ column on his list. I assume that after “Spock’s Brain” McCoy, now knowing that such a thing was actually possible and retaining some portion of the knowledge he’d gained from the Teacher, did extensive work with computer simulations to recreate the technique he’d used in the years that followed the episode. In the time between the end of the TV series and _The Motion Picture_ , clinical trials with terminally brain-damaged patients took place and were ultimately successful. The correct date for the development of the procedure would then be ca. 2273.
> 
> 2\. Bottletree Bakery really exists, although I’ve taken some liberty with their hours of operation. A lot can happen in 235 years, right? (The main library at the University of Mississippi, on the other hand, currently does in fact close at 6pm on Fridays, as unlikely as this may seem to those of you who aren’t from the Deep South. We do things a bit differently down here.)
> 
> 3\. Everybody’s Pizza and the other Emory University locations also really exist – except for the peach tree, which presumably won’t be planted for another couple of centuries. It’ll probably also be a few years before they start offering degrees in space psychology, exo-paleontology, or exo-archaeology.
> 
> 4\. The inspiration for McCoy/Terrell came from the novelization of _The Wrath of Khan_. The author somewhat awkwardly points out that the two had “known [each other], rather well, for years” and then goes on to have McCoy use the nickname ‘Len’ when identifying himself to Terrell. While I refuse to accept the idea that anyone except possibly his mother has ever called the good doctor ‘Len’ and gotten away with it, I did decide that it would amuse me to include McCoy/Terrell in my headcanon. According to the _Vanguard_ novels, Terrell was assigned to the USS _Ardent_ and subsequently marooned for several years, although as the books are not a part of official canon I’ve taken the liberty of changing the dates a bit and adding a posting to a starbase to suit my own purposes.
> 
> 5\. It’s generally assumed that McCoy’s first visit to Capella Four took place well before he joined the crew of the _Enterprise_ , but there is no actual reference to a time frame in “Friday’s Child”; as far as I can tell from watching the episode it may just as easily have been immediately prior to his _Enterprise_ assignment.
> 
> 6\. Thanks to S. for convincing me to put my prattlings on the internet and betareading them!


End file.
